Snowflakes
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: "I love the snow. Snow castles, snowball fights, snowmen, snow forts, snowflakes... Just snow! I love it! I wish it could snow all the time in every season! Just once, I'd like to see it snow in September..." She sighed before quickly perking up again. "But I also love the snow because it reminds me of you!" She grinned brightly at Weiss. [Normal life, younger AU. RWBY Tuesday].


**An idea I wrote back in December finally got its turn in the lineup. Normal AU, they are about 8 years old.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.**

* * *

Snow

Although Ruby had only met Weiss a few months ago in school, they had quickly grown to become good friends.

Weiss thought it odd how their conflicting personalities attracted them to one another, but despite her quips, she secretly enjoyed and even envied Ruby's energetic tendencies. She was also so bold as to believe her own, more reserved presence benefited the younger girl sometimes.

Ruby had been drawn to Weiss, firstly by her captivating appearance and secondly by her ability to always stand out amongst the crowd. Her alabaster hair and icy-blue dress attracted Ruby instantly; she had always loved the winter -particularly the snow that came along with it - and Weiss Schnee was quite literally akin to a fairytale snow-princess.

Ruby had more or less gotten to be close to Weiss by simply never leaving her side; though the white-haired girl had tried to push her away at first, Ruby's persistence had won her over before long.

Once Ruby had started to melt the ice over the other girl's heart, she had discovered why Weiss built the wall up in the first place.

Weiss could not feel cold, and therefore had always been subjected to various forms of bullying. This had caused her parents to become stricter and limit her contact with others for fear she would get hurt. They were very cautious about their daughter's condition.

However, Weiss never saw the issue with her inability to feel the cold, in fact she saw it as more of a gift than a curse. She never had to worry about shivering when she played outside and she could build as many snowmen as she pleased without being affected.

Her mother allowed her to play outside in the snow, but always called her inside within twenty or so minutes. Weiss would always obey, but pout and inquire as to why she could not stay outside when she did not get cold like the other children. Her mother's answer had frightened her: "Weiss, you may not sense it, but your body is still affected by the cold, and that can be very dangerous."

That comment had deterred Weiss from playing outside in the snow altogether for a few winters, but after she had met Ruby, Weiss found herself longing to go outside and play more and more.

Since they only lived a few blocks away from one another, the white-haired girl found herself sneaking out to play much more frequently recently. Plus the fact that Ruby found her inability to feel the cold charming; Ruby never called her a freak like the other children did.

Weiss was presently headed for the local park which separated hers and Ruby's houses. It was a very snowy day, and there was white as far as the eye could see.

"Weiss, Weiss!"

The white-haired girl looked up as she heard a familiar voice calling out to her. When she noticed the flash of red running at her, Weiss braced herself for the impact of the tackle-hug she knew was coming.

"R-Ruby!"

Her eyes widened in surprise as she instinctively opened her arms to the other girl. Ruby jumped forward into her chest, sending up a flurry of snow behind her. The two young girls collapsed into the white fluff as Ruby bowled Weiss over, the latter letting out a slight "oof!" as her friend landed on top of her.

"Rubyyy, what did I say about tackling me?" She sighed, though her lips smiled.

"Ahhh, you said you loved it and that you wanted me to do it every time I saw you?" Ruby blinked innocently.

Weiss rolled her eyes playfully as she pushed Ruby off of her and sat up.

"No, you silly." Weiss lightly flicked the younger girl's forehead. "I said you _shouldn't_ do that! Especially not in the snow!" She buried a gloved hand in the snow and flipped some of it onto Ruby's head.

"Aw, but why not?" Ruby pouted, shaking herself off. "I mean, it's not like the snow bothers you anyway, right?"

"True..."

Ruby was the only person Weiss was comfortable telling her secret to. Of course, most of the adults knew so they could help her if they needed to, but the other children were kept in the dark about it so they would not torment Weiss any more than they already did.

As she sighed, lying in the snow now, a trail of red material caught her eye and Weiss glanced to the side. It was Ruby's red scarf, the thing the brunette had told her was her most precious treasure that her mother had made for her not long before she died. Ruby never took it off; even in the summertime, she would wear it around her waist despite the taunts she received.

Weiss wondered what that must have been like for Ruby to have lost her mother already; of course she had her uncle and sister, but Weiss still hurt a little when she thought about it.

"Weeeeiss!" Ruby's whiny voice pulled her out of her reverie. "You're spacing out again."

Weiss blinked her eyes back into focus when she realized she was lying on her back in a pile of snow, although to her, it was more like feeling cotton. Ruby was propped on her elbows, gazing at Weiss curiously as she poked her ribs with a gloved finger. Weiss giggled instantly.

"Hey!"

"I was just making sure you didn't fall asleep!" Ruby squealed, rolling away as Weiss lunged at her for a tackle.

The two girls wrestled in the snow for a while until Weiss had pinned Ruby down.

"Gotcha!"

But her smirk did not last for long as the younger girl surged upward, knocking Weiss off of her and flipping them over.

"Nnn!" Ruby stuck her tongue out at Weiss.

"Ugh! You're so gross, you dork!" Weiss wriggled away from her friend as Ruby willingly let her go and plopped down in the snow beside her again.

They watched their breaths for a moment, Ruby making growling noises as she mumbled about being a dragon. Weiss rolled her eyes but still chuckled.

Then, the girl in the red coat popped up again to look over at her.

"Hey, Weiss! We should do snow angels!"

"Snow angels?"

"You know!" Ruby flopped onto her back again and spread her arms and legs wide before sweeping them about. "You do a wind-shield-wiper in the snow and then when you stand up, it looks like an angel!"

"A wind-shield...? Ruby, you're so silly."

"Hey, it's not like I invented it!" She pouted. "But I love the snow. Snow castles, snowball fights, snowmen, snow forts, snowflakes... Just _snow_! I love it! I wish it could snow all the time in every season! Just once, I'd like to see it snow in September..."

She sighed before quickly perking up again. "But I also love the snow because it reminds me of you!" She grinned brightly and Weiss blinked; Ruby was the only child who ever said things like this, that she enjoyed Weiss's company...

"Now come on, Weiss! Make a snow angel with me!"

Weiss watched her younger companion for a moment before she laid herself back down as well. She slowly copied Ruby's motions lifting her arms up and down as her legs went from side to side.

After a few minutes, Ruby stopped squirming and gave a mighty jump before standing up. She then offered her hand to Weiss. "Careful! Don't wanna get footprints on it!" She pulled the other girl up and briefly dusted the snow off of Weiss's hair before they stood back to admire their work.

While Ruby's had evidence of more energy, Weiss's snow angel was timid and elegant. "They're perfect!" Ruby grinned. Weiss only got to appreciate the shapes for a minute until Ruby was pulling her away again.

"What should we do next... We should enjoy the snow like it is now while we can, because there's supposed to be a big storm tonight... Hm... Oh! Let's build a snowman!"

She dragged Weiss to another area of untouched snow before she began instructing the other girl on how to properly construct a snow-person. They ended up building and entire family and lined them all up side by side.

They had a snowball fight as well, which Ruby ended up winning easily, and in her refusal to give in, Weiss tackled her this time. They rolled about in the piles of snow, giggling and squealing, until they had made marks on every portion of snow.

They ended up lying on their backs again, staring at the sky as it continued to drop snowflakes, a little faster than before.

It was then Ruby sat up. "We should probably head home before the blizzard starts." She got to her feet before offering her hand to Weiss as well. But the other girl shook her head.

"I'll stay here a few more minutes. It's really pretty. Plus I'm not cold."

Ruby frowned as a shiver made her hug herself.

"Okay. But make sure you go home soon!" She grinned before waving goodbye to Weiss and dashing off.

Weiss watched her go; Ruby's house was much farther away from where they were than Weiss's was, so she knew the younger girl always went home earlier to be safe.

Weiss closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of cars passing by in the distance, feeling a bit of the wind as it lifted her bangs out of her face...

She napped for a little while, and when she reopened her eyes, the sky was darkening. She sat up quickly, knowing she had to go home, shaking snow off of herself as she got to her feet. Weiss headed toward the path she needed to take home, but something caught her eye and she turned her head.

Something red was lying half-buried in the snow beside the snowmen she had made with Ruby.

Weiss rushed over to dig it out; it was Ruby's scarf, her most precious treasure. It must have fallen off when they were wrestling together.

_This is my fault..._

Weiss clutched the article to her chest when she saw there were snowflakes frozen into it. She knew it must have felt cold, and she did not want it to be that way when she gave it back to Ruby.

Weiss looked up to the sky again, but it was not snowing any harder. She needed to get to Ruby.

Weiss had never been to her house before, but she had a feeling she could find the way. If the blizzard got bad enough overnight, she may not be able to return Ruby's beloved scarf to her for days.

Weiss did not want to imagine the pain and panic that would put her friend through.

Weiss started to trudge through the snow, blinking past the wind as she strained to see beyond the white snowflakes everywhere. There were only a few cars on the streets now, all trying to rush home, their lights and the street lamps above making Weiss's eyes hurt.

The blizzard came down suddenly.

Rather than a gradual increase in snowfall, it was as though a pebble had been pulled from a castle and it all came avalanching down at once. The wind howled, taking Weiss's hair and tossing it about in all directions as she pressed onward.

She only had one more field to cover now; she could see the houses in the distance. Perhaps Ruby would let her stay the night?

Weiss could see the puffs of her breath just before the wind shredded them; she knew it was cold, it was all around her, but still she felt nothing. All she knew was that her feet were moving slower now and it was harder to keep her eyes open.

But then, a strong gust of wind tore Ruby's scarf from her fingers that could no longer curl to hold onto it.

Weiss cried out as she watched it fly back the way she had come and land on the ground. She turned to chase after it, barely able to lift her boots out of the mounting snow now.

When at last she reached the scarf, Weiss smiled a little. She reached down and held onto it before another gust of wind knocked her down.

She did not get up.

Weiss could not feel anything anymore, not even her own warmth. Her body would not move, not her arms nor her legs...

All she could do was look up at the night sky.

She knew it was cold, but she could not feel it.

Ruby's scarf was secured beneath her, and one end of it fluttered up over her shoulder, brushing against her face. The crystals in it told her it must have been cold, but all she felt was a light ticklish sensation.

The snow around her was like cotton, but she could not move anymore.

So Weiss did the only thing she could.

She stared up at the open sky above her as it stretched out into a vast purple sea.

Funny. She had always thought the sky was dark at night, but now as the snow was falling everywhere, it seemed to glow; Weiss wished Ruby could see it with her.

She closed her eyes...

* * *

Weiss's story was told all around town for the next two days.

They had found her in the snowy fields and identified her before contacting her family. Her parents wept - even her father who usually never showed much emotion.

Ruby remembered when a sad policeman had shown up at her door holding the scarf she had been crying all evening about having lost.

She asked where he had gotten it.

She wished she had not.

She broke down, screaming and wailing as Yang ran to her and held her tightly. "He's lying!" Ruby screamed. "Weiss _can't_ be dead! She can't be! I just saw her! I just talked to her! We built snowmen and made snow angels and had a snowball fight and...a-and-!"

None of them slept that night, nor the night after.

The funeral was small, as not many people had known the little girl.

Around her mourning attire, Ruby wore her red scarf, the one her mother had given her before she died - the one Weiss had died trying to give back to her.

Ruby did not say a single word the entire time she was at the funeral until Yang took her up to the open casket.

Weiss was there – sleeping – surrounded by white and red and pink flowers.

That was when Ruby screamed her name and fell to the floor wailing, and her uncle and sister had to take her away.

* * *

For years to come, Ruby hated the snow.

She loathed it with her entire soul.

She wished it would never snow again.

It had killed her best friend.

Every time it snowed, she would end up screaming or crying again, often times both.

It was not until she was about twelve years old when Ruby's disdain for snow came to an end.

Yang had watched her little sister suffer for enough years, hating the thing she used to love so very much.

It was that year when Ruby finally could understand that the snow had not been what took Weiss away from her – it had been Weiss's illness, her inability to feel the cold.

Slowly, slowly, Ruby began to smile again when the snow fell.

* * *

Ruby jumped out of bed the second she was conscious.

She darted down the stairs, her scarf flying out behind her, before she came to a halt where Yang had been waiting for her. Just as she did every year on this day, her sister had woken up early to prepare things.

And every year she proceeded to tell Ruby that having her birthday cake for breakfast might not have been the best idea, and every year, Ruby refused to eat anything else.

Yang led her outside onto the porch where her uncle hugged Ruby warmly and ruffled her hair. As she pulled away, Ruby readjusted her scarf before standing in front of her cake at the table. It was pink and red, swirled with icing in the shape of a rose, with strawberries and sprinkles and powered sugar like snow.

Yang lit the fourteen candles.

Ruby thought long and hard about her birthday wish. She ended up making the same one she had wished for for the first eight years of her life.

Yang and her uncle clapped as her sister hugged her tightly.

A little later on, some of Ruby's friends arrived to celebrate and play together. It was a very cold day for September, but they still managed to have fun outside together.

A little after noontime, the sky began to darken.

And then a miracle happened.

Tiny white flakes began to flurry down from the clouds, coating the ground in soft snow. Everyone was surprised, but no one was complaining.

Before long, there was enough snow for them to build snowmen, make snow angels, and have snowball fights.

All day long, Ruby played and laughed and tackle-hugged her friends and sister; all the while she never stopped smiling.

When the day was done and her friends had returned home, Ruby knelt down outside underneath the wide white sky. She clasped her hands together in the falling snow, closing her eyes as she buried her chin in her red scarf. A single tear fell from her eye before she looked up again and smiled.

"Thank you, Weiss."

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**A/N: Please forgive me for writing this ahh gosh ahaha ;u; It was hardly planned and just kinda... happened and it's definitely not one of my better stories but yeah.**

**Please review!**


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